On the Front lines

CNN's Television Correspondant Sanjay Gupta shares a travel diary

Dr. Sanjay Gupta - of CNN fame - has given a whole new meaning to house calls.

Then again, the world is full of all kinds of faraway places people call home. In his role as a CNN medical correspondent, Gupta brings television audiences up-to-date on the latest medical news. He also is charged with traveling across the globe to give a medical slant to some of the most compelling and timely stories of the day.

Gupta took a packed audience on a virtual tour of his worldwide treks as the keynote speaker at Community Hospital's annual meeting for the Community Hospital Foundation and the Auxiliary.

Gupta, hired by CNN in 2001 to help cover the September 11 attacks in New York City, has also been to Baghdad for the war in Iraq, to Bangkok for the international AIDS conference, to Sri Lanka for the tsunami, and to New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina.

Always, Gupta says, he tries to personalize his coverage from the front lines - speaking to the camera as if he's speaking to one of his patients. "Our job is not only to give you knowledge, but to give you knowledge so you can contextualize it," says Gupta, who still practices neurosurgery.

Gupta actually used that medical expertise while on assignment with the Marines in 2003 when he traded in his microphone for surgical instruments to help operate on patients suffering from head trauma.

"Sometimes," Gupta says, "it takes stepping outside of your field just a little bit to realize just how important your field is."

In other annual meeting news, Frank C. Amato was named to the Community Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees, while George W. Couch, III, George E. Miller, Jr., M.D., and David H. Watts were each elected to a second term. All will be serving three-year terms ending in 2009. The only outgoing member was Davis Factor, Jr., chairperson. Beverly L. Hamilton will assume that role.

2006 BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
(Front row) Laurie Benjamin; Ian Arnof; Beverly L. Hamilton, chairperson; H. James Griggs; Kathleen Hicks, Communtiy Hospital Auxiliary president.
(Back row) Dr. Steven Packer, Community Hospital president/CEO; Geraldine Taplin, M.D., secretary; Frank C. Amato; Barry Gendleman, M.D., chief of staff; George W. Couch, III, treasurer; Jay Hudson, Community Hospital Endowments president; George E. Miller, Jr., M.D.; Stephen M. Dart.
(Not pictured) The Hon. Leon Panetta; David H. Watts, vice chairperson; Ted J. Balestreri.